George Osborne writes in the Wall Street Journal that even closer economic ties between the UK and US are in the `overwhelming interest of both countries.’ He said that although the UK is leaving the EU, “we are not quitting the world.”

He is due to travel to New York, Singapore and China for talks with major investors in the coming weeks. The UK is the largest trading partner in Europe for the United States, and in turn the US is the largest single destination for UK exports.

Chancellor George Osborne

UK exports to the US totalled £88bn in 2014 – about 17% of total UK exports – and last year the UK was the US’s sixth largest trading partner.

Brexit campaigners have argued that leaving the EU will allow the UK to strike its own trade deals with major economies and fast-growing countries. George Osborne had campaigned for the UK to stay in the EU, and said that while Britain’s decision to leave the EU clearly presents economic challenges, the government has to do everything to make the UK the most attractive place in the world to do business.

He added that Britain and the US have been at the forefront of open trade in the last 200 years and pursuing a stronger relationship with their biggest trading partners will be now a top priority. The chancellor said the UK would continue to be “a beacon for free trade, democracy and security, more open to that world than ever”.

Mr Osborne will be meeting finance leaders in New York on Monday, and has spoken to Paul Ryan, speaker of the US House of Representatives, twice in recent weeks. He will also meet US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew in London this week.

And in the Wall Street Journal he said the question now “is not what Britain is leaving; it is what Britain will become”. “One lesson of the referendum is that too many of our citizens feel economic progress is no longer benefiting them. Ever-higher welfare to make good lost incomes is not the answer; attracting private investment and good jobs beyond our major cities is.”